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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — ‘If If There’s Anything You Ever Did In Your Life You Don’t Want To See On The Front Page Of The Paper …’

Posted on by Jim Fuglie 2 Comments on JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — ‘If If There’s Anything You Ever Did In Your Life You Don’t Want To See On The Front Page Of The Paper …’

From time to time over the years, I’ve received phone calls from aspiring politicians seeking advice on whether to run for some public office. Generally, it’s something like, “Hey, Jim, I’m thinking about running for dogcatcher. I’m wondering what you think about that. You got any advice for me?” My first response is always the same. “Well, that’s great. It …

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RON SCHALOW: Kevin Cramer’s Criminal Choice 

Posted on by Ron Schalow 2 Comments on RON SCHALOW: Kevin Cramer’s Criminal Choice 

There are many public servants and oil executives to blame for their silence but only Kevin Cramer, Mr. North Dakota way, thinks he deserves a seat in the United States Senate. So, he has to answer for his failures. “It took “more than 1,000 firefighters from 80 different municipalities in Quebec and from six counties in the state of Maine” …

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TONY J BENDER: That’s Life — Another Kerfuffle

Posted on by Tony J Bender

I’d like to begin this week by saying, “That darn Heidi Heitkamp.” I’m referring, of course, to last week’s column in The Forum in which Mike McFeely ever-so-gently, in his curmudgeonly way, suggested that fellow columnist Rob Port might try writing about someone other than Heidi Heitkamp. Like maybe Joel Heitkamp. I mean, I ain’t exactly Sherlock Holmes, but if …

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RON SCHALOW: Poor Paranoid Lying Port

Posted on by Ron Schalow

My buddy, Rob Port, used the coveted space for his Sunday column to set up a hypothetical Festivus pole, air his grievances and sob over his keyboard. My sources say he paced in the hall for a solid 45 seconds before getting winded and falling into a heap of self-pity. The feats of strength portion of Festivus was canceled, due …

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RON SCHALOW: Port And Cramer — Making Collusion Fun Again

Posted on by Ron Schalow

I bought a gizmo that is supposed to drive away vermin by emitting a super high-pitched sound. I wanted a herd of hard-partying ants on a sugar high to take a hike. Or take a long walk off a short pier, like my uncles used to tell me on a regular basis. It’s undignified to live with insects that strut …

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RON SCHALOW: From Adultery To Zinke

Posted on by Ron Schalow

Holy moly, where has the time gone? It seems like only yesterday, Ryan Zinke was on North Dakota soil. Yes, THE Ryan Zinke. I still shiver at the thought. The ethically challenged secretary of the Interior — most in the Cabinet are corrupt, so it’s no big deal — was smack dab in Grand Forks, to fire up the Republican …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Sisters Quilting Bee Weekend

Posted on by Lillian Crook

We’re not certain what constitutes sufficient numbers to be able to call a gathering such as the one I attended this past weekend a “bee,” but I was invited by my older sister to a “quilting bee,” so by gosh I’m going to call it a “bee.” I was a member of this bee, held in the Bad Lands south …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Remembering Two Great Men

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

Friday I attended the funeral for one of the greatest men I have ever known — George Sinner, governor of the state of North Dakota from 1985 to 1993. I worked for him those years and came to know him and love him, much like a son might love his father. He was just 20 years older than me, so not …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — The Race For An Open Seat In Congress

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

North Dakota’s Democrats will hold their state convention in Grand Forks later this week, and the highlight, if there’s to be one, will be choosing a candidate to run for North Dakota’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. So I’ve been thinking a bit about politics and conventions, especially past ones, similar to what we might see this …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Memories Of A Great Governor

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Calm was the day in late July And bright was the sun across the sky But inside his chest the calm had broken Governor Sinner had started croakin’. I laughed the first time I read that, and I’m still laughing every time I think about it. It’s a poem written by a sixth-grader from Turtle Lake, N.D., about Gov. George …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Seems To Be A Lot Of POS’s Around These Days

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

North Dakota’s district political conventions are about over, and state conventions are coming up, so I thought I might write a few political columns for the next few weeks. I’ve been hanging out around politics for a few years, and still have a pretty good memory (something my wife would dispute), and I still know a lot of the players …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Whither The Measure 6 Coalition?

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Word comes this week that the organizing committee for a group of North Dakotans who want to raise North Dakota’s Oil Extraction Tax back to the level it was at before the Legislature cut it in 2015 has decided to postpone its initiated measure campaign. Postpone but not abandon. A wise choice, I’d say. Although the group already has its …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie —A Short Message About Our National Park

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

This might be the shortest blog post I’ve ever written. Or will ever write. But it’s an important one, so if you are concerned about the possibility of an oil refinery being built next to Theodore Roosevelt National Park as I am, please take just one minute to read it. I had a chance encounter with Gov. Doug Burgum this …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Wild Lands In North Dakota: A Red-letter Day In North Dakota History

Posted on by Lillian Crook

Today was a red-letter today in North Dakota history, specifically N.D. conservation history. This morning, at the Bismarck Public Library, the film “Keeping All the Pieces” was released by the Badlands Conservation Alliance and the North Dakota Wildlife Federation. Presented by Jan Swenson, BCA executive director, and Mike McEnroe, of the North Dakota Wildlife Federation, this 15-minute film dramatically captures …

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RON SCHALOW: Don’t Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor Or Anyone Huddled

Posted on by Ron Schalow

I don’t like to brag, but I’m not a white supremacist. I’m a pale pinkish beige, touch of gray, slight kale-green hue supremacist. Gray geese, they call the two of us in the press, although, honestly, they don’t pay any attention. Effing chromos, otherwise. Me, or I, except after c, and the other bloke in the mookie genus, Roy, are …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — ‘The Prairie Post Office’

Posted on by Lillian Crook

“The Prairie Post Office: Enlarging the Common Life in Rural North Dakota.” K. Amy Phillips and Steven R. Bolduc, history by Kevin Carvell. North Dakota State University Press, 2017, 102 pages, color photographs, maps and other illustrations. Box 172, Rhame, N.D. That was my childhood address in Slope County. Our school bus driver was also our rural mail carrier, driving …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — What Will Happen To The Newest Bridge Across The Little Missouri State Scenic River?

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

Last summer, I wrote an article about a North Dakota Bad Lands rancher who built himself a big bridge across the Little Missouri State Scenic River on federal land without getting permission. I wrote then, last July, “The folks at the BLM office don’t seem to know anything about the bridge or the road or the water pits, but they …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Of Refineries And The Public Trust Doctrine

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

The official comment period has passed on that sleazy company Meridian Energy’s request for an Air Pollution Permit for an oil refinery beside Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I’m guessing the State Health Department got an earful. Friday, on the last day of comments, my friend,Sarah Vogel, our former state agriculture commissioner and one of the state’s best attorneys, sent me …

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TONY J BENDER: That’s Life — The Breast Of Times

Posted on by Tony J Bender

It’s been a couple of interesting weeks when it comes to what women can and can’t do in North Dakota. In Wahpeton, there’s a communitywide debate about the Oasis Bar’s request to permit lap dancing. Meanwhile, at Chick-fil-A in Fargo, a woman was kicked out for breastfeeding her baby. Let’s start there. This is a place that makes a living …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — The Secret Ministry Of Frost

Posted on by Lillian Crook

Although this is a time of fallow in the yard, there is beauty everywhere, for those who pause to look. The hoary white bits coat everything and the air is still. It makes me think of this poem, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Here are the first and last few lines. “Frost at Midnight” The Frost performs its secret ministry, Unhelped …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — The Refinery Needs A Site Review

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

A pair of former Democratic-NPL state senators challenged the North Dakota Health Department to demand a site review by the State’s Public Service Commission before issuing an air pollution permit allowing Meridian Energy Group to build a refinery three miles from Theodore Roosevelt National Park at a marathon public hearing by the Department Wednesday night. Former Sen. Connie Triplett of …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — A State Champion Tree — In Our Yard!

Posted on by Lillian Crook

Hello from Lillian AND Jim. We sat down this week and wrote about one of the coolest things that have happened to us in a long time, and we’re posting it on both our blogs — Wild Dakota Woman and View From The Prairie. We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed writing it. On summer evenings …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — A State Champion Tree—In Our Yard!

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

Hello from Lillian AND Jim. We sat down this week and wrote about one of the coolest things that have happened to us in a long time, and we’re posting it on both our blogs — Wild Dakota Woman and View From The Prairie. We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed writing it. On summer evenings …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Father Sherman’s Magnum Opus: ‘Prairie Mosaic’

Posted on by Lillian Crook

With every turn of a page in “Prairie Mosaic,” the reader will delve into the rich ethnic history of North Dakota. The Rev. William C. Sherman labored for many years to reveal an astonishing level of detail, down to the township level, and to tell the story of the state’s inhabitants. “Prairie Mosaic: An Ethnic Atlas of Rural North Dakota,” …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — We’ll See You In Court

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

At the end of the meeting between Meridian Energy Group executives and the North Dakota Public Service Commission a couple of weeks ago, Commission President Randy Christmann pretty much told William Prentice, Meridian CEO and the man who wants to build an oil refinery next to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, that the next time they meet will probably be in …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Red Oak House Christmas Bird Count

Posted on by Lillian Crook

Fifteen below at noon New Year’s Eve 2017 with record lows in the night convinced me that this was a year to participate in the area Christmas bird count by making observations at the Red Oak House feeders. These are my tools for the day. The hyperborean dawn revealed that the kitchen window suet feeder had fallen to the ground. Red …

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DAVE BRUNER: Photo Gallery — ‘Sun Dogs Of North Dakota’

Posted on by Dave Bruner

Photographer Dave Bruner ventured out in the extreme cold (minus 25 degrees with a wind chill of minus 40) Saturday morning to try and capture some images of the sun dogs, as extreme cold is needed plus ice crystals in the air. It all came together as he was fortunate to capture this phenomenon in full detail. They formed the …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — My Pal, Rick Watson

Posted on by Lillian Crook

He arrived in Rhame, N.D., when I was a senior in high school, this new, young pastor at First Lutheran Church, fresh out of Wartburg Seminary. Rick Watson and I got acquainted pretty quickly because I was the church organist and pianist, and I sang in the choir. Little did I know that this talented and brilliant young man from …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Some Questions For The Refinery People

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

NDCC 49-22.1-02:  “Statement of policy. The legislative assembly finds the construction of energy conversion facilities … affects the environment and the welfare of the citizens of this state. It is necessary to ensure the location, construction and operation of energy conversion facilities … will produce minimal adverse effects on the environment and the welfare of the citizens of this state …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Fort Keogh Trail

Posted on by Lillian Crook

Another important historic trail in North Dakota that has been on my mind this past year is the Fort Keogh Trail. This trail passed nearby to where I grew up in Slope County. As shown on the map above, it ran from Fort Abraham Lincoln (near present-day Mandan, N.D.) to Fort Keogh, west of Miles City, Mont. Completed during the …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Yellowstone Trail Redux

Posted on by Lillian Crook

A few miles west of the ranch where I grew up, in Deep Creek Township in the vastness of North Dakota’s Slope County, stands an ornately fashioned wrought iron signpost. This is the signpost. According to Merle Clark of Marmarth, Slope County’s unofficial county historian, it was made by a blacksmith from Rhame, N.D. My mother says her earliest memory …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Musical Chairs Leaves Land Commissioner Without A Job

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

I really thought (and kind of hoped) when I read in the paper Friday morning that the State Land Board had said good-bye to its longtime North Dakota State Land Commissioner, Lance Gaebe, that the next story I would read about him would be his appointment as director of the USDA Rural Development office in North Dakota. But Donald Trump, …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Refinery Near National Park Gets Preliminary OK

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

Tuesday’s announcement by the North Dakota Department of Health that it is preparing to issue an Air Quality Permit to Meridian Energy to build the Davis Oil Refinery three miles from Theodore Roosevelt National Park should come as no surprise. Once again, the state of North Dakota rolls over to the energy industry, but this time it’s threatening more than …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Early Dakota Trails

Posted on by Lillian Crook

When I am not out exploring trails in my car or with my feet, I do quite a bit of thinking about trails, particularly the old trails of Dakota Territory. As one can see from the graphic above, in the main, the earliest trails followed the rivers. Last winter, I spent quite a bit of time off the trail, looking …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — ‘The New Wild West’ — A Book Review

Posted on by Lillian Crook

“The New Wild West: Black Gold, Fracking, and Life in a North Dakota Boomtown,” by Blaire Briody (St. Martin’s Press, 2017). Readers of the Bismarck Tribune will recognize several of the principal characters in this book in which Blaire Briody tells the story of the Bakken Oil boom in western North Dakota. Briody intersperses the stories of many individuals, including …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Anybody Want To Have A Fundraiser? Here’s A List

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

This one is for North Dakotans — and those who follow North Dakota politics. I received an e-mail this week from some thoughtful person who thought I might be interested in a fundraising event for State Rep. Al Carlson, the Republican legislative leader. Turns out I wasn’t interested in the fundraiser, but I was interested in the e-mail. The e-mail, which …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Crying Over Spilt Oil — And Brine

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

OK, when technology fails you, sometimes you just have to do things the old fashioned way. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the North Dakota Department of Health’s Environmental Incident database and how difficult it is to track the performance of various oil companies. I haven’t heard back from the governor yet, and being an impatient Norwegian, I …

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RON SCHALOW: Dope For An Old Dope

Posted on by Ron Schalow

It was a dark and stormy ni… d’oh. Wrong story. Actually, it was a cool and calm evening, with a cloudless sky and a full moon. Hardly the point but worth noting. I and an associate were attending one or several parties in Bismarck. It’s not clear how many, but liquor, my favorite liquid at the time, was served. My …

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LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — October Trails

Posted on by Lillian Crook

“But your solitude will be your home and haven even in the midst of very strange conditions, and from there you will discover all your paths.” — Ranier Maria Rilke My path this past week took me to North Dakota’s Roughrider Country. Our first stop was a meeting of the Little Missouri River Commission in Dickinson, where we bore witness …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Maybe The Governor Shouldn’t Send Engineers To Represent Him

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

“Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it,” the wise man said. And you might not like what you get, I might add. That’s what I was thinking about four hours into last week’s second meeting of the newly reconstituted Little Missouri Scenic River Commission. I’ve been harping for a couple of years on the idea …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — The Cry Of The Pheasant

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

One more time around for pheasants and Paul Southworth Bliss, in honor of Saturday’s 2017 Pheasant Season Opener. This will be my 59th pheasant season. Actually more because before I was 12 in 1959, when my dad bought me my first shotgun, I had tagged along since I was able to keep up with him in the field, probably starting …

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JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — ‘Quit Farming? Heck, What Would I Do?’

Posted on by Jim Fuglie

I want to tell you a story today about a really remarkable woman, a true North Dakotan, a real character and my favorite relative: my Aunt Deloris. Deloris Boehmer is my last living aunt. She’s the only remaining member of my parents’ generation in our family. She’s 88, and lives in Edmore, N.D., about 40 miles northeast of Devils Lake. …

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TONY J BENDER: That’s Life — Hurricane Donald

Posted on by Tony J Bender

A big wind made landfall last Wednesday in North Dakota, and when I woke up the next morning, North Dakota was great again. A KX News morning show anchor giddily recounted her excitement about President Trump’s visit and how she and her family had gone out to “show our love for the president.” I was a little surprised her objective …

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